Species Glossary

Adaptation

A physical characteristic or behavior that a plant or animal develops in response to its habitat.

Addled

Inviable. An egg that contains a dead embryo.

Aerie

A birds nest. Raptor nests are most commonly referred to as an aerie.

Altricial

Born in a relatively underdeveloped state as is the case of peregrine falcon chicks.

Amphipod

An animal belonging to the order (Amphipoda) of small crustaceans (such as a sand flea) having a thin, flattened body.

Anal scale (or anal plate)

In snakes, a scale or plate just in front of the cloaca. The scale can either be single or paired.

Antennae

A pair of appendages used for sensing by arthropods such as insects and crustaceans.

Anthropogenic

the result of human activity

Arctic

The region around the Earth’s North Pole, north of the Arctic Circle.

Asynchronous

In birds, the situation when a clutch of eggs do not hatch at the same time. Rather, the eggs hatch over a period of days. Many raptors exhibit asynchronous hatching. This is a natural adaptation where if food sources are scarce then only the strongest young survive to fledge.

asynchronously

In birds, the situation when a clutch of eggs do not hatch at the same time. Rather, the eggs hatch over a period of days. Many raptors exhibit asynchronous hatching. This is a natural adaptation where if food sources are scarce then only the strongest young survive to fledge.

Baleen

A hard yet flexible substance made of keratin (the same material as hair, horns, scales and fingernails) that occurs in a series of comb-like plates suspended from the upper jaws of some whale species which filters and traps prey inside the mouth.

Barred

Streaking, lines or stripes on an animal. Barred owls exhibit vertical barring on their bellies and horizontal barring on their chest.

Bask

To lie or relax in a warm location; to bask in the sun.

Beak

Bill of a bird.

Biology

The science of living beings and life processes.

Biomagnification

When levels of substances build up and become concentrated as they work their way up the food chain.

Bivalve

A mollusk, such as an oyster, clam, or mussel, having two shells hinged together.

Brood

The number of young produced or hatched at any one time.

Brooding

To sit on or hatch eggs; to protect and care for young.

Bubble net

A hunting technique used by humpback whales where bubbles, exhaled by one or more whales, are used to herd or disorient schools of fish in order to make them easier to capture.

Bycatch

Unwanted marine creatures that are caught in fishing nets while fishing for another species.

Cache

To store or bury food for future use. Animals such as squirrels or woodpeckers often exhibit caching behavior.

Calcareous

Mostly or partly composed of calcium carbonate, a chalk like substance.

Callosities

Raised, thickened, and roughened patches of skin on the head of a right whale. Callosities are generally home to large colonies of whale lice. The number, size, and configuration of callosities differ between individuals, allowing scientists to tell animals apart from each other.

carapace

A carapace is a dorsal (upper) section of the exoskeleton or shell in a number of animal groups, including arthropods such as crustaceans and arachnids as well as vertebrates such as turtles and tortoises

Carcass

The dead body of an animal.

Carrion

The carcass of a dead animal.

Carrying capacity

The carrying capacity of a biological species in an environment is the population size of the species that the environment can sustain indefinitely, given the food, habitat, water and other necessities available in the environment.

Cere

The soft, fleshy part of a raptors beak where the nostrils are located.

Chromosome

An organized structure of protein and DNA found in cells. Contains the genetic material that is passed on to offspring.

Cloaca

The posterior opening that serves as the only opening for the intestinal, reproductive, and urinary tract of certain animals such as birds, reptiles, and amphibians.

Clutch

A complete set of eggs produced or incubated at one time.

Cold-stun

A condition which occurs to sea turtles when they become immobile due to a dramatic decrease in water temperature (usually below 50°F). Without proper intervention, a cold-stunned sea turtle will inevitably die.

Competition

The contest between animals in an environment for available resources (food, shelter, etc.).

Coniferous

Needle-leaved or scale-leaved, evergreen, cone-bearing gymnosperm trees or shrubs such as pines, spruces, or firs.

Conservation

The wise use of natural resources.

Constrictor

A snake that kills its prey by constriction, or squeezing its prey to death.

Contaminant

Any physical, chemical, biological, or radiological substance causing an impurity in the environment.

Contiguous

In regards to forests, large areas of forested lands with no roads or low densities of roads and little or no human development. Ideally, these areas are connected to other forested areas and habitats. Contiguous forests are necessary for animals such as bobcats and birds such as wood thrush, scarlet tanager, and barred owl.

Contour feathers

The outermost feathers of a bird that give the bird its characteristic appearance.

Countershading

A color pattern, serving as camouflage, in which dark colors occur on the upper portion of the body and lighter colors occur on the underside.

Courtship

Specialized behavior that leads to or initiates mating.

Coverts

Feathers of a bird that cover other feathers. Coverts appear on the wings and tail of birds and help to smooth airflow over the wings and tail.

Crepuscular

Active at dawn and dusk.

Crustacean

A large group of arthropods which includes lobsters, crabs, crayfish, shrimp, and krill. Like other arthropods, they are invertebrates with an exoskeleton, jointed appendages, and a segmented body.

Cryptic

DDT

DDT (from its trivial name, dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane) is one of the most well-known synthetic pesticides. It is a chemical with a long, unique, and controversial history.

Deciduous

Typically used in reference to deciduous trees or forests; to lose leaves seasonally for some part of the year.

Demersal

Found on or near the bottom of a body of water.

Diadramous

A fish which migrates between fresh and salt water.

Disjunct

Disking

To cultivate (soil) with a disk harrow.

Dorsal

Applies to the back of an animal or anything on the back of an animal; a dorsal fin is the back fin.

Double Brooding

Producing two sets of young during the nesting season. Some birds species will incubate, hatch, care for, and fledge a one set of young and then renest and start the process over again, producing another set of young during the same nesting season.

Double-clutching

The process of taking a clutch of eggs early in the incubation period such that the birds renest and produce a second clutch. This allows a clutch of eggs to be used for reintroduction elsewhere.

Duff

Organic matter in various stages of decomposition on the floor of the forest.

Ecology

The science concerned with the interaction of organisms and their environment.

Endangered species

Status given to a species whose prospect for survival within the state is in immediate danger due to one or several factors, such as loss or degradation of habitat, over-exploitation, predation, competition, disease or environmental pollution, etc. An endangered species likely requires immediate action to avoid extinction within NJ.

Estuary

Where rivers meet the sea; a partly enclosed coastal body of water with at least one river flowing into it, and with open access to the sea.

Extinct

The end of a species; when a species dies out it is classified as extinct.

Extirpated

Local extinction is where a species (or other taxon) ceases to exist in the chosen area of study, but still exists elsewhere. This phenomenon is also known as extirpation. Local extinctions are contrasted with global extinctions.

Extirpation

Local extinction is where a species (or other taxon) ceases to exist in the chosen area of study, but still exists elsewhere. This phenomenon is also known as extirpation. Local extinctions are contrasted with global extinctions.

Juvenile

Keeled

Larvae

A distinct juvenile stage that many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. The larva’s appearance is very different from the adult form. An example is a caterpillar that will turn into a butterfly.

Lores

Malar

Mandible

Mast

Nuts, fruits, and other plant material that accumulates on the forest floor.

Metamorphose

To transform from a larval stage such as a tadpole to an adult stage such as an adult frog. First stage and last stage tend to look very different from each other.

Migration

A seasonal move from one place to another place (sometimes from one climate to another climate).

Millinery trade

Hatmaking; with regards to wildlife, pertains to the exploitation of bird feathers to adorn women’s hats.

Mollusk

Any invertebrate of the phylum Mollusca, typically having a shell of one, two, or more pieces that may wholly or partly enclose the soft, unsegmented body. Shells are mostly or partly calcareous, composed of calcium carbonate. This group includes snails, slugs, bivalves, squids, and octopuses.

Pinelands

Pinniped

From the Latin for “wing-footed” or “fin-footed”, this term is used when referring to seals, sea lions, and walrus.

Plankton

Microscopic plants and animals.

Plastron

The plastron is the nearly flat part of the shell structure of a turtle or tortoise, what one would call the belly, similar in composition to the carapace; with an external layer of horny material divided into plates called scutes and an underlying layer of interlocking bones.

Plumage

Refers to both the layers of feathers on a bird as well as the color, pattern, and arrangement of those feathers.

Pod

A group of dolphins, porpoises, or whales.

Polygyny

When a male animal mates with more than one female.

Precocial

Birds that are able to walk and feed themselves upon birth such as a piping plover.

Predator

An animal which hunts and eats other animals.

Prey

An animal that is killed and eaten by another animal.

Primaries (feathers)

The contour feathers that propel the bird through the air. They are the outermost wing feathers on a bird; the largest wing feathers and the furthest from the body. In most birds, there are 10 primary feathers on each wing.

Pronotum

The first of three segments in the thorax of an insect that bears the first set of legs.

Pupae

A lifestage of an insect undergoing complete metamorphosis. The pupal stage follows the larvae stage and precedes adulthood. The chrysalis is the pupal stage of a butterfly.

Raptor

A bird that hunts and eats meat; also known as bird of prey. Raptors use their talons to catch their food and their strong, curved beaks for tearing food into bite-sized pieces. Falcons, hawks, eagles, and owls are raptors.

Rare

Present in a given location but unlikely to be seen because the species is found in small numbers or is not regularly found in a particular location

Remiges

Wing feathers that are used in flight.

Restoration

The repair of ecological damage to an ecosystem so that it is close to the natural condition prior to a disturbance and it can function as a normal self-regulating system. This is done through processes such as chemical cleanups, revegetation, and the reintroduction of native species.

Retrices

Tail feathers that are used in flight.

Reverse sexual dimorphism

When females are larger and heavier than males as is the case with most raptors.

Riparian

The area along a stream or river.

Roost

A perch on which birds can rest or sleep; a secure place where bats rest, sleep, and/or rear their young.

Rufous

scat

Scrape

The type of nest made by many birds including peregrine falcons; a shallow depression in soil, sand, or gravel.

Scutes

Bony external plate or scale, as on the shell of a turtle, the skin of crocodilians, or the feet of some birds.

Secondaries (feathers)

Feathers connected to the forearm of a bird closer to the body than the primaries. Some birds can have as few as 6 secondaries (as in hummingbirds) or more than 40 (as in some species of albatross).

Sedge

A flowering plant that resembles a grass or rush but has a triangular stem with leaves that are arranged in a spiral pattern in three ranks; any plant in the Cyperaceae family.

Semialtricial

Young that are not mobile at hatching and are fed and brooded by parents

Sexually dimorphic

Differences in size and appearance between males and females of the same species.

Snag

A standing partly, or completely dead tree.

Special Concern

Animals that need special protection because they are vulnerable to environmental threats but they do not warrant an endangered or threatened status. This category would also be applied to animals that scientists know little about their population status in the state.

Specimen

A sample that is representative of a particular species or characteristic.

Spermatophores

A capsule or mass created by males of some species, containing sperm. Spermatophores are then transferred to the female during mating. Some species of salamanders such as the spotted and blue-spotted salamanders use spermatophores in reproduction.

Spicules

Tiny, spine like structures.

Spiracle

An opening in the head of sharks and rays through which water is drawn and passed over the gills.

Stock

A group of marine mammals of the same species which occur in the same area and interbreed when mature.

Stoop

To descend swiftly in flight, or dive after prey. "A hunting peregrine falcon stoops after prey."

Stoop

A headfirst, bullet-like dive through the air, usually performed by raptors in pursuit of prey. Peregrine falcons can reach speeds of over 200 miles while in a stoop.

Subadult

Juvenile; an organism that has not quite reached adulthood.

Subsist

To survive or support oneself.

Substrate

The surface on or in which animals such as mussels or clams, live or gram; the material that is used to build a nest.

Succession

A sequence of events coming one after the other in time; ecological succession refers to a more or less predictable change in the structure of an ecological community